


Breathe

by VXRIABLE



Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: Angst, Angst and Tragedy, Character Death, Drama & Romance, F/M, Humor, IN SPACE!, Missions Gone Wrong, Tragedy, Tragic Romance
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-07-31
Updated: 2019-08-03
Packaged: 2020-07-28 05:56:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,340
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20059141
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/VXRIABLE/pseuds/VXRIABLE
Summary: Michael Wheeler and Jane Hopper, two people who had dreams to change the world. Their paths cross doing just that at NASA, where they are the first people to step foot on Mars, accompanied by friends and co-workers Dustin and Lucas. Or, that was the plan. On arrival, they leave the shuttle to explore, everything they're doing being recorded and broadcast on national television. This was expected to be the moment where the world would never be the same. Instead, with Mars' weak atmosphere, Jane's oxygen tank is hit with debris floating around them. Now panicked and losing her life fast, the trip back to the shuttle is overbearing as she struggles to breathe.





	1. Takeoff!

"Flight panels?"

_Click._ "Check."

"Trajectory line?"

_Click._ "Check."

"Comms?"

Static. _Click._

"Check."

"Seat belts?"

"Yes, Michael, I have my seat belt on. You?"  
"Of course, Jane," he replied, the click of the belt into it's slot contradicting his words. "_Mom, get the camera! We're going to space!"_

"Will you shut up?"

Lucas' irritated voice came smoothly from the circular speaker above all three pilot and sub-pilot seats. He sits in the third row back, in front of 14 screens, other NASA employees surrounding him.  
"God, you sound like your sister," Mike replied.  
"That's no shit," Dustin put in, a seat behind the pilots in the space between them. His curls peeked from under his lucky cap, the untamed beast birds called home.

"Watch your language, you're about to be broadcast all over the world." Lucas rolled his eyes.

Mike looked over at Jane. Her suit made her thin body look eight times bigger than she was, and he chuckled. He noted that her seat belt was in fact buckled. The nag he'd prepared sunk back into the filing cabinet of "smart-ass remarks".

"You ready, babe?"

"Yes, and don't call me 'babe' while broadcasting."

_"Daaaaamn,"_ Lucas and Dustin both jeered, pulling a line of profanities from Mike. Jane giggled under her breath.

"Okay, for real this time guys. This isn't the zero-g flight. And live, in three.. two.. one.. red." A red light began blinking on Lucas' desk, and the screens in front of him began recording 14 different angles of the shuttle.

Cap comes off, and the button to press the engine's power was lit.

"Main engine hot, and, ignition."

The shuttle began shaking under them, and the frame of the camera showing the world blurs. Fire and smoke spews from the engines at the back of the shuttle, concealing the external tank and spreading across the take-off area for a quarter mile.

"Firing boosters," Mike said.  
The three of them lowered their microphones to their lips, voices coming through to the world much clearer. The shuttle's vibration came harder and faster, the live feed of the pilots' faces becoming pixelated. Even so, their hard expressions were clear. Mike's lips were pressed into a thin line, dark eyes focused and riveting. His ebony curls bounced around his face with the rest of the shuttle. Jane's expression was open and curious, but she definitely knew what she was doing. She seemed relaxed, hair in a perfect bun, held together with a pink scrunchie.

Dustin was the least calm, eyes twinkling with mischief, as always. He was grinning, his teeth having recently begun to grow in.

The cameras panned to the outside of the shuttle, and the entirety of Earth watched as it launched from the station. Leaving the bronze external tank behind, the light from the orbital engine and boosters blinding, the aircraft left the ground.

It wasn't long before they were a speck of white in the air.

"We're over. 17 kilometers up, dropping tanks," Jane said robotically. She pressed a button, and the two booster tanks on either side of the shuttle dropped into the gray Atlantic beneath them. Citizens nearby their takeoff point 'ooh'-ed and 'ah'-ed at the ark of light the aircraft left in it's path, the dust finally clearing up.

A few minutes later, the frame darkened on the cameras on the inside of the shuttle as they began to reach the edge of the atmosphere. Dustin grunted a little as his ears popped, pressure dropping too fast for his first time in space.  
However Jane and Michael were used to it, and remained unaffected.

"Peaking 94 kilometers, and running as smooth as ever," Mike said, checking and double-checking all the system scanners.

"You know, it's really sexy when you're confident up here," Jane said with a smug smile.

"YOU SAID NOT TO CALL YOU BABE WHILE BROADCASTING? REALLY?" Dustin cried from behind them, and they all burst into laughter.  
"This is quality television, you guys, the fans are going crazy," Lucas spoke idly from the station, a content smile on his lips.

"It's all me, of course," Mike said, his chest puffing. Jane rolled her eyes.

"Pay attention Michael, we've left the atmosphere." Mike focused back on the giant window in front of him, a span of black the only thing in his sight.

Around ten minutes later, Mike shut off the engine, and their journey officially began as they glide through space weightlessly, heading for Mars.


	2. The Start of it All

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> We know where they are now, but first we must explore where they were.

They might not have drank alcohol often, but when they did, they went a little crazy.

Mike was laughing hysterically, beer still in hand as he watched Dustin trying to kill a fly. He chased it around the basement with a pink flyswatter, stumbling over the carpet. His curls lifted every time his head jerked, frantically searching for it.

Jane sat beside Mike on the couch, legs crossed, an alcohol-induced flush on her cheeks with a glass of wine in her hand. Will was on her other side, an untouched glass of chardonnay on the table in front of him.  
Finally, Lucas and Max were on the other love-seat, bodies intertwined in ways that seemed like something required for Olympic gymnastics training.

They were having fun.

Three days before Jane, Michael, and Dustin were to head into space, they had to celebrate their accomplishments.  
Plus, it was good for them to relax like this before such an important and stressful expedition.

"William, you _have _to loosen up. You're going to be watching us, it'll be just as stressful for you," Jane told him.

He gave her his most awkward smile, one he'd kept since childhood. "Someone has to drive these idiots home, though," he replied, gesturing at Lucas, Max and Dustin.  
Jane rolled her eyes.

"Guys!" she cried, gathering everyone's attention, somehow including Mike's. "Will suggested we have a sleepover tonight, here."

"That's a _great _idea! I can kill this god damn creature!" Dustin said before Will could argue. He sighed, glancing over at Jane's smirk, knowing he'd been defeated.

Their night continued like that, Will finally becoming more relaxed when he eventually drank.

Lucas and Max had had the experience of a lifetime that night in the guest bedroom, not to mention Jane and Michael.  
However during these three hours, Dustin and Will were still awake, lying on the couches in the basement.

Dustin sighed, turning onto his back to stare at the ceiling. "I wish Suzie was here, damn it. I could've called the guest bedroom."

"And do the same thing? I'm not sure you would hold back as much." "Of course I wouldn't do the same thing. Suzie's Morman, remember?" "Yeah, Suzie who doesn't actually exist."  
Dustin was quiet for a moment. "You know, you've become so much more blunt now that you're older." "I think it's just the wine, Dustin. Go to sleep."

"I have a problem in my pants now, though." "Jesus Christ-"

* * *

The next morning, their hangovers were intense, of course, however Will was the least delirious. Which gave him an opportunity to observe his friends in a state which wasn't full throttle.

Mike was cooking them all breakfast, Jane waiting on the first batch of Eggo's to pop. Mike's hair was usually messy, but that morning it was more messy than usual. Will rolled his eyes.

Lucas was in some otherworldly plane in his head, staring off into space with his lips parted. He looked shocked. Max returned from the bathroom to slap his cheek and wake him from his trance. "You're drooling again."

"Excited for tomorrow?" Jane asked Michael, resting her hand on his bicep as he nudged scrambling eggs around a pan. "Is nervous an acceptable answer?"

"Of course. I'm.. kind of scared too. Anything could happen, you know? There's so many different ways that something could go wrong, it's almost like it's a little inevitable-"  
"Babe, you're not making me any more confident in the trip." She grinned, pushing up on her toes to kiss his cheek.

"It's gonna be okay, Mike. I doubt anything bad will happen."


End file.
